17 Marzo 2014 @ Consuelo

Today was…quite a day. We began mighty early. We met in the lobby outside of our hotel rooms at 6:45 AM, all dressed in our teaching gear. We met Juana- our lively, lovely, and spirited interpreter- and her husband Eric and we all piled into the van. Let’s just say that 10 people plus a printer was mighty tight.

Next stop was Hector’s house! 10 became 11, and the title of driver switched from Rust to the amazing Hector. When hunger set in we stopped at a sweet little place on the side of the road.

Stephanie and Ali were ALL about the fried cheese situation.

Chris and I gazed at the beautiful ocean and climbed over a beautiful old coral reef.

Soon we piled back into the van and set off for Consuelo.

Teaching about water pollution.

At Consuelo I was struck by the bareness of the classrooms. I was also surprised by the amount of hearing aids I saw- I would have thought that their economic situation would not have allowed for that, yet today I saw many children with hearing aids.

The children were bright eyed and curious and had all different levels of language capability. Our students came to us in groups. 3 shifts with 3 rotations in each shift. the age range was from 7-34 years old. Some students were partly blind, some had cerebral palsy, one had Waardenburgs, and all- every single one- had a smile on their faces and in their hearts.

9 lessons, a twin mixup, a delicious lunch, and a myriad of pictures later, our day came to an end.

Teaching about density.

Teaching was hectic, it was hot, but most importantly, it was lovely. Seeing the happiness, willingness to learn, and understanding was beyond rewarding. Something Stephanie said really struck home. She said, looking around at the bustling children and brightly colored, square buildings: “my heart is home, here”.